GWDG Cloud Server

The “GWDG Cloud Server” is a service similar to known commercial cloud services. However, the GWDG pays special attention to the needs of the scientific community. By using the “GWDG Cloud Server” web-based interfaces, developed by the GWDG, the user is able to independently create and manage server instances.
Hereby the user chooses among a broad range of widespread Linux distributions as the base installation as well as
different server flavours in terms of available processors and memory.
For the realization of the service “GWDG Cloud Server ” the GWDG consistently uses open source products such as OpenStack, KVM and Linux.

Access to the graphical interface of the server is given directly via the web browser of the user whereby the server can be configured and more services are installed and managed. In order to enable accessibility of the servers on the Internet, public ip addresses that can be assigned to the servers in a flexible way. Security settings allow the user also to define the rights (firewall) to make the server accessible from outside. All servers are running in the GWDG data centre on modern hardware in accordance with current data protection requirements.

In a first test phase, the IT officers of the Max Planck Institutes and the University of Göttingen evaluated the functions and made suggestions for optimization. The lessons learned were incorporated into the ongoing preparations for a public test phase in which the service “GWDG Cloud Server” was available to all members of the Max Planck Society and the University of Göttingen available. Since completion of the test phase of the service “GWDG Cloud Server” it is now transferred to a production facility.